The detection of explosives has always been of great interest and concern to both the military as well to the civilian police. With the expansion of terrorist organizations and others constructing explosive devices in makeshift labs and with readily-available materials, the need to detect such devices, as well as their precursor components, is of vital importance to the safety and protection of both military and civilian personnel.
Many HMEs, (along with other explosives) utilize nitrates or chlorates as active components. While tests for such compounds are known, and there are test kits that utilize reagents that detect such components, there remains a need for a methodology that can be applied in the field, by relatively untrained personnel, and which provides a clear colorimetric indication of the presence of such components. For such field use the incorporation of additional tests for other precursors, with the added complexity and bulk required for such tests, is not needed.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a methodology that can be incorporated into a kit that is convenient and simple to use, and which can provide rapid and accurate indications of the presence of nitrates and chlorates under a variety of field conditions.